An examination of existing legacy land line communications networks in light of communications technology evolution leads to some interesting insights. On the one hand, the newest long haul communications and information infrastructures being built today are based on fiber optic and coding technologies which are capable of immense capacity. On the other hand, the "last mile" local drop to the end user is typically still the legacy copper line installed decades ago for telephone service. Because the legacy copper lines were designed for performance that did not contemplate today's fiber optic capabilities, the copper line end users cannot avail themselves of the high bit rates that modern long haul infrastructure can provide. The user is limited by his local drop connection to the service provider.